Germans spent almost 3 billion euros on pet food

Despite the financial crisis German households spent more money on keeping their pets. Turnover on pet food and cat litter increased by 2.7% to €2.97 billion.
The increase mainly occurred through higher pricing and shifts in assortment. Pet food sales dropped 1.4%. 
About half of the expenditure is on cat food (+4.1%) and about one billion euros is spent on dog food (+2.5%). Turnover on fish and bird feed has decreased and sales of feed for animals such as guinea pigs and mice saw a slight increase. The total market is around €3.7 billion
 In Europe this equals to the expences of France (€3,69 billion) and is slightly behind those of the United Kingdom (€4.06 billion).